Here’s an interesting New Year’s resolution for you: Become Wiser. “This year, I resolve to make wise decisions. I want to become wiser, to live my life more with wisdom.”
We don’t hear a lot about wisdom these days. Our world is deluged with information and overflowing with knowledge. We can get an answer to just about any question we have with a stroke on our keyboard. ChatGPT can give us information, but it cannot, and will never be able to, give us wisdom.
But wisdom is what we desperately need today. We need what Albert Einstein came to realize is necessary for humanity to survive. Einstein began his career with “a profound faith” in what science and technology could do for the world.[1] Then he watched German scientists use science for their own greed and power, creating weapons of mass destruction. Einstein said that science in his generation had become like a razor blade in the hands of a three-year-old.[2] The same could be said for our generation about technology—technology has become like a razor blade in the hands of a three-year-old. But then Einstein began to see how important wisdom is, and he began to seek wisdom from the sages of the past, such as Jesus and St. Francis of Assisi, who were “geniuses in the art of living.” As Krista Tippett notes, “He [Einstein] proposed that their qualities of ‘spiritual genius’ were more necessary to the future of human dignity, security, and joy than objective knowledge.”[3]
WHAT IS WISDOM?
Wisdom is what God desires to give to every person, and he gives wisdom generously to those who diligently seek it (see, e.g., Prov. 2:6, 7; James 1:5-8). In many ways, you could say that wisdom is what God desires most for us and from us. The Story of the Bible tells us that God created humans in his image, to resemble God’s nature and character. God created us to be his representatives in this natural world and for us to multiply and flourish so that we, like our good Creator, would create good things—beauty, culture, and flourishing life. But for any person, family, community, or nation to do that well, we need wisdom. So, what is wisdom, and how do we become wise?
The Bible is a treasure trove of wisdom. Old Testament scholar John Walton argues that we should even view the “law” of the Old Testament (the Torah) not as “legislation” but rather as the ways of wisdom, how an individual and a community’s life can be ordered to bring about flourishing.[4] Becoming wise is serious business, a matter of life or death (see Deut. 30). And right in the middle of the Bible are five books dedicated to the development of wise living (the “Wisdom Literature”): Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.[5] These books are a great resource in understanding what wisdom is and where it comes from.
So, what is wisdom? Wisdom (according to the Wisdom Literature) could be described as the practical art and skill of living life well. Wisdom is similar to what we would call today emotional intelligence (EQ): it is knowing what to say or do at the right time and in the right way. “Timing is everything in wisdom.”[6] For example, in the book of Proverbs, we see two Proverbs side by side that seem to contradict each other. One says ignore a fool so that you won’t become a fool; the next says to answer a fool so that the fool won’t be wise in his own eyes (Prov. 26:4,5). Wisdom is the skill of knowing which of these two actions are best for the situation. It is not just knowledge, but how to apply knowledge in the best way. And wisdom understands that we are not isolated individuals. We live within a larger community, and the well-being of any individual also depends on the well-being of the community.
Wisdom is sort of like how C.S. Lewis described the successful voyage of ships across the ocean: the voyage of ships will succeed only if they do not collide with each other, each ship has its engine in good working order, and they know their destination.[7]
WHERE DOES WISDOM COME FROM?
So how do we acquire this art and skill of living well? There is one critical element to becoming wise, which is what the Wisdom Literature says is the foundation (the “beginning”) of wisdom: “the fear of the LORD.”[8]
What is the “fear of the LORD?” Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman says “perhaps the closest English word is ‘awe,’ but even that does not quite get it. The ‘fear of the Lord’ is the sense of standing before the God who created everything, including humans whose very existence depends on him. Such fear breeds humility and signals a willingness to receive instruction from God. This fear is not the fear that makes us run, but it is the fear that makes us pay attention and listen.”[9]
Throughout the Bible, the “fear of the LORD” is wedded to and embedded in the “love of the LORD.” Acknowledgment of our utter dependence and reliance on God is the “beginning,” but it is the beginning of a relationship steeped in and maintained by God’s nurturing love and care for us. And so Israel was instructed to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength” and also to “fear (reverence) him” (Deut. 6:5, 13). Because God is both full of love for us and is also our Creator, his ways are the best for us, are pleasant to our soul, and provide length of days and peace (Prov. 2:10, 3:1). We respond to, even run to, God’s love. We adorn God’s love like a necklace, and we write his ways on the “tablets of our heart” (Prov. 3:3). We can thus “trust in the LORD with all our hearts,” because he will make our paths straight (Prov. 3:5).
THE WISE PERSON AND THE FOOL
Wisdom Literature also emphasizes the one trait necessary for wisdom to flourish: humility. As David Brooks writes, “humility is the greatest virtue. Humility reminds you that you are not the center of the universe, but you serve a larger order.”[10] Conversely, the one trait that kills wisdom is pride/arrogance. “Pride is the central vice. Pride blinds us to our own weaknesses and misleads us into thinking we are better than we are. Pride makes cold heartedness and cruelty possible.”[11]
The Wisdom Literature has a word for the arrogant—they are “fools.” The fool is the one who is “wise in his own eyes” (Prov. 3:7, 12:15, 16:2, 26:12). The fool is self-centered, self-absorbed, refuses to see his own faults, and as a result, those around him suffer. In contrast, the wise are humble and “other-centered,” and act to build up the community and those around them (see, e.g., Prov. 1:3, 2:8, 8:20, and Micah 6:8-9). By allowing the traits of humility and love to grow, the wise reflect and represent our Creator, the Loving God of the Bible. As a result, a community and a nation flourish.
This is also why the Wisdom Literature emphasizes that any ruler of a nation must not be arrogant, because his lack of wisdom and character will fracture a nation. “When the wicked rule, the people groan” (Prov. 29:2). The words of instruction for a ruler of a nation can be found in Prov. 31:8-9, where God instructs the king to “speak for those who cannot speak, for the rights of those who are destitute. Judge righteously, and defend the rights of the poor and needy.” In contrast are foolish rulers, who exhibit those traits that the LORD hates and which will eventually bring ruin:
A wicked man goes about with crooked speech,
with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord;
therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord. (Prov. 6:12, 14, 16).
A LIFE WELL BUILT
Becoming wise doesn’t just happen, we must seek for it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure (Prov. 2:4). We must guard our hearts from those things that pollute it and instead “treasure up” the ways of wisdom (Prov. 4:23, 2:1).
Proverbs describes Wisdom as having been with God at the very beginning of creation, and God ordered the world according to his Wisdom (Prov. 8). Wisdom herself is personified in the person of Jesus, through whom the world was created and in whom is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 1:15, 2:2,3). Jesus is our Sage and Savior, and as we read the Gospels we can listen to his wisdom and watch how he treats people. We can become apprentices to him in wise living.
Jesus compared the person who both listens to what he says and then puts it into practice to a wise person building a house. He had to “dig deep” and “lay the foundation on the rock.” But when the floods of life came (and they will), that house was able to stand “because it had been well built” (Luke 6:46-49). According to Jesus, this wise person is the one who stores up good treasure over time in her heart, and from her heart, good fruit will flow to be both a blessing for herself and for others (Luke 6:45).
[1] Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living (Penguin, 2016), 3.
[2] Tippett, 4.
[3] Tippett, 4.
[4] “Wise living cannot be legislated. It is a matter of applying principles of wisdom, not of following rules. Order in society was the goal, and it was achieved through wisdom, which had its foundation in the fear of the Lord.” John Walton, The Lost World of Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context (IVP Academic, 2019), 44.
[5] There are numerous “wisdom” Psalms, including 1, 14, 37, 73, 91, 119, and 128. One would be “wise” to begin each day by reading a Psalm and a chapter from the Gospels.
[6] Tremper Longman, The Fear of the Lord is Wisdom: A Theological Introduction to Wisdom in Literature (BakerAcademic, 2017), 8.
[7] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (MacMillan, 1977), 70-71.
[8] Seventeen times the phrase “fear of the LORD” appears in Proverbs (see, e.g., 1:7, 1:29, 2:5, 3:7; see also Job 28:28, Ps. 111:10, Eccles. 12:13).
[9] Longman, 12, 13.
[10] David Brooks, The Road to Character (Random House, 2015), 263.
[11] Brooks, 263.